ИСТИНА

Bone and joint degenerative and inflammatory problems affect millions of people worldwide, and the development of antibacterial yet biocompatible surfaces is a challenge that the biological community has been facing for many years, but the “materials of dream” have not been developed yet. Although the bulk properties of metallic materials in healthcare applications have been more or less optimized, the poor interfacial bonding between their surface and the surrounding tissue, as well as the occurrence of implant-related microbial infections remains a serious problem in reconstructive surgery. Surface engineering is an effective tool to impart desirable chemical, biological, and mechanical characteristics to the surface without compromising material bulk properties. For example, changing the chemical composition and surface roughness of metal implants can significantly improve their osteoconductive and osteoinductive characteristics. Another important task is imparting antibacterial characteristics to a surface in order to reduce the risk of microbial contamination when integrating the implant into living tissue. Self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) has become a “hot” and a rapidly developing topic in surface engineering. The most notable progress has been made in the field of SHS-produced targets and electrodes, which are widely used for deposition of various types of coatings. The aim of this work is to obtain antibacterial yet biocompatible coatings using pulsed electrospark deposition (PED). For this purpose new composite electrodes were fabricated from reaction mixtures Ti–C–20% Fe–10% Ca3 (PO4) 2–3.4% Mg–X% Ag …